One of my first trips was to Beaver Creek, but I had a friend who had lived there for three years at that point, so he showed me around and I learned the place quick. I would have never gone otherwise.

Even when I was new to WA, I rode at Crystal for a year before I even discovered the side-country that no one ever touched.

You could ride at Baker for 1/5th the cost of Whistler. I honestly wouldn't go to Whistler unless you had someone to show you around. Bigger is not always better... when talking about mountains that is.

Never heard of Baker before, im looking at their website right now doesnt give too much info.

What smaller resorts can you Recommend? Im going to start doing a little more research into this.

My advice for your first trip is to go somewhere "convenient" and easy(not as in easy terrain but easy to navigate and have fun) to navigate, one of the "mecca" locations like Summit County Colorado, Tahoe California or Salt Lake City\Park City\Ogden Utah.

Depends on when you go, I'm obviously biased towards Utah so my favorite areas to ride is in Ogden at Snowbasin(where they had the Olympic downhill) and Powder Mountain(in-bounds back-country and uber cheap snowcat rides)......you can stay cheaply in Ogden and it's only a 30 minute drive to either resort.

Salt Lake City also has 3 Snowboarder(2 smaller and 1 large) friendly resorts within 20 minutes of downtown(Brighton, Solitude and Snowbird)

Park City--Great nightlife, shopping all that stuff and had 2 snowboarder friendly resorts within 5 minutes of downtown(The Canyons and PCMR)

Do you have timeline or budget constraints?

This years Ski magazine where they rate resorts is a great place to start and I think it's online for free if you search.

I was also looking at the size of the two mountains and they are huge looks like it could take a while to get down the mountain as I am only used to riding at Peak and PA mountains.

From what I hear abaout "mountains" on the east coast, you are going to be completely shocked at how long it takes to ride from the peak of Whistler to the base. I've actually rarely done it because it takes so long and the runs/snow are better near the top so the bottom is just a waste of time.

When you ride whistler/blackcomb you typically ride only the top half, but if you want to go from the top to bottom, it probably takes 20 munites unless you are trying to haul ass.

There's a lot of good advice on this thread so definitely do a lot of research before spending a ton of $. I've been to Whistler often because I am only a 5 hour drive away. I have an amazing time everytime I go, but a lot of that is just the fun times with friends on the mountain and in the village. I've had better pure snowboarding days at smaller/cheaper resorts closer to Seattle, but Whistler has always been a fun all-around trip.

From what I hear abaout "mountains" on the east coast, you are going to be completely shocked at how long it takes to ride from the peak of Whistler to the base. I've actually rarely done it because it takes so long and the runs/snow are better near the top so the bottom is just a waste of time.

When you ride whistler/blackcomb you typically ride only the top half, but if you want to go from the top to bottom, it probably takes 20 munites unless you are trying to haul ass.

There's a lot of good advice on this thread so definitely do a lot of research before spending a ton of $. I've been to Whistler often because I am only a 5 hour drive away. I have an amazing time everytime I go, but a lot of that is just the fun times with friends on the mountain and in the village. I've had better pure snowboarding days at smaller/cheaper resorts closer to Seattle, but Whistler has always been a fun all-around trip.

20 minutes top to bottom for Whistler is if you're a strong rider and you're bombing the whole time without needing to stop to catch your breath. Your first trip up the lift will blow your mind how insanely big it is.

3D Map of Whistler is a great way to wrap your head around whistler, I wish there was something like that for every mountain.

My advice for your first trip is to go somewhere "convenient" and easy(not as in easy terrain but easy to navigate and have fun) to navigate, one of the "mecca" locations like Summit County Colorado, Tahoe California or Salt Lake City\Park City\Ogden Utah.

Depends on when you go, I'm obviously biased towards Utah so my favorite areas to ride is in Ogden at Snowbasin(where they had the Olympic downhill) and Powder Mountain(in-bounds back-country and uber cheap snowcat rides)......you can stay cheaply in Ogden and it's only a 30 minute drive to either resort.

Salt Lake City also has 3 Snowboarder(2 smaller and 1 large) friendly resorts within 20 minutes of downtown(Brighton, Solitude and Snowbird)

Park City--Great nightlife, shopping all that stuff and had 2 snowboarder friendly resorts within 5 minutes of downtown(The Canyons and PCMR)

Do you have timeline or budget constraints?

This years Ski magazine where they rate resorts is a great place to start and I think it's online for free if you search.

Thank you for the advice I will definitely take it into consideration. I am going to start looking into all of those resorts today and let you know what I think. As per timeline or budget thats not an issue. I can book it with a day's notice and im willing to pay extra for a great time. I am looking up the ratings in Ski magazine now. Thank you again.